Feeding mechanism



Filed oct. 1`0, 192s 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 @L w SQQMJ@ Q# @2ML July 7, 1925. 1,545,376

J. WEATHERBY FEEDING MECHANISM Filed 061:, l0, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 s@ @a Q @mi Vim' Patented July 7, 1925.

V UNITED STATES PATENT oFFics.

:rosEPii WEATHEEEY.' or Ramsauer., PENNSYLVANIA.

EEEDING HEcinNisiu.

Applioationuled October 10, 1923.' Serial No. 667,787.

To all it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JosEPH Wm'rimmsr,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeding Mechanism; and 'I do hereby declare the foln lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the' of apparatus which require a constant and accurate flow.

The hopper is more particularly adapted for accurately feeding fine ground materials which,b owing to dampness or fine ground statearch and pack in a hopper and are discharged irregularly.

A further object is to provide a means whereby if the hopper gate becomes clogged by oversize materials or refuse, it may be opened to)discharge such obstructions, and be again closed to the exact feed before opening the gate. A 'further object is to rovide a means .tov close the gate of the opper,- stopping the ow of materials, and to then again open it to the exact point of feed as before the gate was closed. A further object is toprovide a means whereby the gate 1 can be accurately adjusted for any feed reuirement, and then opened wide orvclosed A tight and be opened again to the exact feed -mounted below a steel plate or dia as before.

I have found, particularly in` the use of ore separators that fine ground orcs cannot be fed accurately, even though they be granular, andin consequence there is either rush feed or no feed at all, and by such irregular feed an ore separator or other apparatus cannot be adjusted to do very close work. zI ous de ees ofdampness or else pack and arch. ypresent invention is arranged to overcome the above fault.

I have found that by imparting very ra id vibrations to a mass of ground ore or ot er materials, that vit does not packv or arch, and

even though the material be very damp it will vfeed as constantly as it would in a dryer state.

I bring into effect an alternating current magnet, using any commercial fr uency,

on which the ore or other materia to be fed, rest. The plate or diaphragm by ache ore in the hoppers take on v arition of the alternating magnetism, vibrates or pulsates rapidly, imparting the vibrations to the ore or other materials massed thus causing the particles to break contact with one another and they will flow.

In describing the hopperz Fig. 1 -is a sectional elevationof a. hopper embodying the present improvements. l Fig. 2-is a transverse section view showing the alternatin current magnet with its adjustments in re ation with the vibrating steel plate. A

Fig. BT-is a front elevation of .a hop er` showing its gate raising and gate adjusting mechanism.

Fig. 4-is a detail elevation of the gate actuating mechanism. Fig. 5-is another view of the in Fig. 4.

I will now describe the invention and its action referrin to the various numerals and letters in. the rawings attached.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, the hopper is preferably built of steel plates (1) which parts shown form the sides, front and back and part of projects over a vibrating steel plate or dia-v phragm (5). This plate or diaphragm rests loosely on two strips of heavy felt (6 which in turn are laid on vthe inner legs o anfrles (s). 'rwo studs (5', and 5") rigidly iastened to plate or diaphragm (5) loosely pro-d ject through holes 1n base angles (3) and serve to hold diaphragm in position. The plate or diaphragm is free to vibrate on its ed of felt.

Adjustable but securely hun from angle bars (3) by threaded stud bolts (7) isan alternating current magnet 8) composed of laminated iron punchings orming poles for the coils that energize it.

The alternating current magnet is directly under the diaphragm and is adjustable to 'or away from it by nuts on stud bolts on the windings or coils, the diaphragm :is

attracted by the magnet and released by the` action of the alternatingcurrent changing from positive to'negative,y and 1s violently vibrated according to the frequency of the current that energizes the magnet. When the magnet is adjusted toward' or away from the diaphragm '(5) the vibrations are stronger or weaker.

Mounted on the front plate of the hopper is a gate (9) The gate is raised or lowered to or from the diaphragm to permit the proper feed of material to pass under it. t is also arranged to bisect the diaphragm so that part of the diaphragm is inside and art outside of the hopper. On the part inside, the ore or other feed rests upon the diaphragm While the outside section guides the feed to discharge. On the side walls of the hopper are gulde strips (10) arranged to hold the gate in place and form sllde grooves. v

Overlapping the gate at its top and arranged to form a pocketffor the gate is a rotector plate (11). Plate (11) prevents le ore packing between the gate and front pA ate.

Rigidly fastened to the gate are gear racks (12 arranged to pass through slots (13) in ront plate, and be meshed with gears (14) or shaft (15). Shaft (152 is mounted on front plate by bearings 16) Vand is free to turn to raise or lower gate (9) Thrust collars (17) prevent endu motion of J ample the half inch size first mentioned, the

the shaft'and on't'he end of the shaft (15) is a hand wheel (18).

lLo' lymounted on shaft 15) is a collar l(19) which has a projecting stem (19'), the collar having a slot in its inner face (119') The slot is arranged to forma stop r pin (20) which'rigidly projects from vshaft (15). The slot is beveled one `way so that the shaft can turn in one direction to raise the gate. Arranged on the'shaft between the hand wheel and collar (19) is .a spiral spring (21) to force the collar tight against the pin (20).

, Mounted on the side of thoe hopper is a bracket (22) su porting a long adjusting screw (23) whic, has a lock nut (23')` to prevent it from turning after it isset.

Adjusting screw (23) contacts with the projecting stem (19') on collar (19), and as screw (23) is turned up the stop slot in l,collar (19) forces the pin (20) to turn shaft and raise gate the desired distance.

The gatemay be opened its full distance bykturning'hand wheel but on closing the stop pin (20) is forced in slot by action of spring and the gate can only close to the regular adjustment.

Should it be desired to close the gate and stop the feed without disturbing the adjustment for the next time. the collar (19) is forced against spring by hand\and moved\ toward hand Wheel in such a way as to closed tight, and when it is again opened the s ring will force collar back to sition and tl e former gate adjustment is o tained.

The yaction is as follows: The ho per is -lled with ore' or other material to fed which rests. partly' on bottom late and partly on plate or diaphragm (J5). The.-

gate (9) is .raised and adjusted to permit the pro r feed topass under. The current is switc ed on and the diaphragm violently vibrates. This vibration not only passes through the material resting on the dia# phragm but also to the whole overlying and surrounding material thus preventing packing and arching,and at the gate itself the material no matter how inely ground will be violently agitated and will pass under the gate whether 'in a thin granular ribbon or a, thick stream. After passing the gate the discharge is still kept in granular'shape and in motionby the outwardly extending portion of the diaphragm. v

I find that when using the hopper with the gate set to a certain adjustment it will t-ake a proximately thirt three undred ounds o size dry ore but 1f this ore is ground to minus ten mesh, it will take doublethe time for it lfed', and if the ore is ground still finer,

say to m1nus thirty mesh it will take nearly two minutes to feed the samewelght of ore.

In the case of the large size ore, for extime r uired to feed a hopper-full of ore will be t e same whether the ore be damp or dry, While in case of the finer ground ore the rate of feed of damp ore will be much slower than that of dry ore of the same fineness but `nevertheless the feed of the damp material 'will be as exact in rate (although slower) as the dry material.

A hopper holding five hundred pounds'of ore of a certain size will discharge the, ore through a. certain opening of the gate in so many seconds by a. stop watch and this same seconds to feed. minus half inch4 loo ilo

ore can be put back in the hopper and will be discharged again and again in the same number of seconds, thus showing a remarkably constant rate of discharge due to the action of the diaphragm. l

The importance of an almost instantaneously operated 'gate in combination with an agitator of the type described can best be shown by taking a concrete case.

Fine ground materials as celnent, Hour or the like in which a very slow but accurate rate of speed is desiredrequire the gate to be almost closed toa point that would re` quire a tive hundred pound charge an hour to discharge. Refuse matter, oversize mater-ial and the like, often occur in the feed and when coming to the gate will close or clog the feed if not released, and consequently a means must be' provided to permit freeing disengage pin (20) and the gate can be the gatexquickly. The operator noting the feed is clog ed can, with extremely rapid movement og the hand Wheel, raise the gate an extremely small amount to allow the obstruction to pass and yet return the gate to the desired position without appreciably altering the rate olf discharge.

yIn handling non-magnetic material the plate or diaphragm maybe of any desired thickness provided that it is not. so thin that it will bow down under the action of the magnet and therefore make a greater clearance underthe gate at the center than at the ends, but in handling magnetic material or material containing magnetic elements it is preferable that the diaphragm be of suiiicient v thicknss to prevent material magnetic action on the substance being fed and in this cony nection it is' preferable that the gate be of non-magnetic material.

A multiple pole magnet is preferably employed, some of the poles being at the same instant north and some south poles and this polarity varies or changes in accord with the alternationsin the alternating, or multiphase current employed.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for discharging a finely divided material in a stream of desired thickness at a closely regulated rate of flow, a hopper, a discharge-controllinggate, a magnetically vibrated diaphragm over which the material passes, means fql` holding said gate at a chosen distance above said diaphragm,

fand means for temporarily raising said gate above said adjusted positlon to permit passage of a piece of refuse and for returnmg the gate to the chosen adjustment Without alteration of the volume of discharge.

2. The device of claim 1 characterized by said diaphragm being loosely mounted on said hopper and constrained to move with its surface constantly parallel to its position when at rest.

3. The device of claim `1l characterized by the gate being vertical and located substantially centrally of the diaphragm.

' 4. The device of claim 1 characterized by the revision of a resilient means secured to the opper and thatthe diafragm rests by avity on said resilient means without be- 1ng secured thereto.

5. The device of claim 1 characterized by I the gate being vertical and located substandiafra tially central of the diafragm, and by the provision of a resilient means supported by the hop er beneath the gate, the diafragm restin y gravity on said resilient means.

6. e device of claim 1 in which the with At e gravit 7. e device of claim 1 in which the diafragm is a sheet of steel and vibration is caused by a multi-pole magnet energized hopper but supported thereon by is a sheet of steel unconnected by alternating current of commercial fre- 4'said diaphragm is the armature.

11. The device of claim 10 in whichthe magnet and the diaphragm are relatively movable for' adjustment of the strength of attraction of the magnet on said diaphragm.

12. The device of claim 10 characterized by the provision of a frame suspended from the hopper and adjustable towards and away therefrom.

13. The device of claim 10 in which the magnet is multi-polar and is energizedby alternating current.

14:. The device of claim 10 in which the magnet has an even number of poles and the current is such as to n. adjacent poles simultaneously of opposite polarlty. 15. The device of claim 10 in which the magnet is energized by single phase alterl nating current. f

16. The device of claim 10 in which the' diafragm rests by gr 17. The device o claim 10 characterized by the provision of a member secured to the hopper bottom and restingupon one edge of the diafragm.

18. In a device for discharging inely sub-` divided material at a constant rate of discharge; a hopper having a vertical yfront wall and a slopingbottom, a reciprocating ate in said front Wall, a shield for preventlng access of the material to the top of said gate, a resilient layer of felt on said bottom, a `metal diaphragm beneath said gate reston said felt and mounted for movement at a right angle to the plane of'its face, ate secured to said bottom and holding said diaphragm against said felt, an alternating current operated multipole magnet adjustably '.mounted beneath said .dlaphragm, means for moving said gatev to a vdesired adjustment above said diaphragm,

mea'ns for .opening said gate to a greater extent independently thereof, and further means for automatically restoring said gate to said desired adjustment upon release of said gate opening means.

JOSEPH WEATHERBY.

avity on said hopper. 

